Kyle Walker also shone having found himself playing a back-up role to Danilo in recent weeks, the Brazilian selected for Thursday's 2-1 win over Liverpool in the Premier League in place of the England international.

"I decided for Danilo [against Liverpool], he deserves to play. He played good at Southampton, today Kyle plays the best game of the season by far," Guardiola said of his right-back selection dilemma.

"It was incredible the way he played. It's difficult for me to choose, but I never give Danilo four or five games in a row. Sometimes I'm really unfair with many, many players and when I decided to play him against Southampton he did really well and that's why he played against Liverpool."

PEP We took it seriously and do what we have to do to be a great club. 8/9 fresh legs who saw what their mates did on Thursday.

Guardiola also welcomed playmaker Kevin De Bruyne back to action after the Belgium international sat out the Liverpool win as an unused substitute, and the City boss is hopeful his talisman can be a crucial factor in the title race.

"We spoke with him yesterday and told him to play at full intensity 65-70 minutes for his rhythm and his injury," the Catalan continued.

"He played incredible, created chances and has vision that others aren't able to see. Hopefully in the last part of the season he is going to help us because we need him.

"Last season without him [winning the title with a record 100 points] would not have been possible. We try to be a team and of course so far we have done incredible in terms of results. To have 50 points in the Premier League is incredible.

"We had two seasons without [Benjamin] Mendy at full-back, we are sad but we have to carry on. Today Kevin was our captain and he showed the reason why he was our captain on the field."